I am humbled and honored to be asked to serve as the President of the Geochemical Society of Japan for the year 2023-2024. When I was recommended for the position before the election, I had my doubts because of my busy schedule and lack of strength, but I accepted the nomination because I felt it was a good opportunity to give back to the Society, which I love so much. I would like to take this opportunity to write what I am thinking at the moment.

The Society was founded in 1953 as the Geochemical Association of Japan, which became the Geochemical Society of Japan in 1963, and was incorporated in 2017 as the General Incorporated Association of the Geochemical Society of Japan. Over the past 70 years, the Society has grown considerably as a society that carries out research fields spanning geoscience and chemistry through the passionate discussions of many of its predecessors (as an example, please read the Geochemistry General Committee Newspaper published from 1972 to 1973 (http://www-gbs.eps.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~environ/ChibakeShinbun.pdf). I would also like to pay tribute to the efforts of the previous Executive Committee members of our society, who have been resolving various transitional issues, dealing with COVID-19, reforming our journal, Geochemical Journal, and enhancing the awards system. I believe that the driving force behind these developments has been your enthusiasm for geochemistry and your thirst to meet other people with whom you can discuss geochemistry together. Now that the COVID-19 disaster is being resolved, I believe that the role of the Society is to return to these starting points and provide a place where you can enjoy geochemistry and engage in lively discussions with your colleagues. When I was a student myself, I belonged to the radiochemistry laboratory of the chemistry department and was not at the center of geochemistry, so I attended the annual meeting of the Geochemical Society every year to find people who would discuss "my own idea of geochemistry" with me. On the other hand, when the scale of the JpGU (Japan Geoscience Union) is as large as the JpGU, it may be difficult to find friends casually. In this sense, I hope that the Geochemical Society will continue to maintain its diversity and current size and become a place where people who love geochemistry can get together.

In light of all this, I would like to write down some of my thoughts as a president. It is on one hand distressing that if we try to do something, the burden on those who are involved will inevitably increase. However, in order for the Society to function effectively as an academic society, to contribute to the promotion of advanced research, the development of young human resources and collaboration with other fields, and to contribute to the formation of academia with a global presence, the cooperation of all members, including the directors and secretaries, is inevitably required. In this era of change, or in a time when Japan's research capabilities are declining, it is our responsibility as people living in this era to persistently take up the challenge of cutting-edge research, to foster young human resources in the process, and to help the next generation to re-emerge. Specifically, we believe that by creating opportunities for encounters and discussions, and through friendly competition there, we can improve the scientific level and develop young human resources, which will ultimately lead to an increase in the merits of our members and membership. In order to effectively promote these activities, we would like to promote the following initiatives.

1. Development of young research personnel
   　This requires an increase in the number of doctoral students, which in turn requires an increase in the rate of doctoral advancement by securing and diversifying career paths. To this end, we would like to promote the appeal of geochemistry, visualize young human resources, and collaborate with companies and other organizations that employ doctoral students.
   　The annual meeting is the most important occasion for promoting these activities. Sessions usually have to be held in three or four different halls, but we have a single session time slot (mid-day afternoon?) where we can talk about the interesting aspects of geochemistry. We are thinking of creating such a time slot for an hour or so before the award-winning lectures). In order to create a place for young people to get to know each other, we would also like to organize a lunch meeting for young people on the first day of the annual meeting, which was also held at the 2023 annual meeting, to introduce ourselves and our labs.
   　In addition, as the most spare time of the year is February-March, we would like to organize a casual new "Young Geochemists' Meeting" mainly for young people (students, PDs and fixed-term researchers). In addition to the presentations by these young people, we would like to ask for invited lectures by board members and other senior people to promote the "fascination of geochemistry", as well as presentations by companies promoting the recruitment of PhDs, and a round-table discussion on diversity. At that time, we would also like to offer support for travel expenses for those who can come from rural areas (by raising some funds). The Board of Directors would like to take the lead in organizing this meeting for young people in February 2024, but after that, we would like to encourage young members to continue it under the leadership of young people, while the senior members will support them in securing a venue, etc.


2. Collaboration with other fields
   　In order to promote cooperation with other fields, we are considering promoting more collaboration than ever before at JpGU and annual meetings. In particular, we consider the JpGU 'Frontiers of Geochemistry' session to be an important forum for promoting geochemistry to other fields. In consultation with the conveners, in addition to invited lectures by people from outside the society, we would like to ask senior class members to give requested lectures to promote the 'attractiveness and fascination of geochemistry' and 'new geochemical methods', and make it a place for exchange involving people from other fields. At the annual meeting, we also hope to encourage the participation of related societies, including those in the fields of engineering and agriculture, and promote collaboration between different disciplines.


3. Always be ready to take on the world
   　The Geochemical Journal (GJ), the face of the Society and an important forum for the presentation of geochemical-related research, will be further developed. Thanks to the dedicated efforts of Editor-in-Chief Katsuhiko Suzuki and all those involved, the GJ has been reborn. It is now open access and the papers published can be read by anyone in the world. In my experience, good papers get cited slowly and steadily, even if it takes a little time. GJ is also a very broad journal in its field. By all means, let's use this GJ as a platform to disseminate our research. I am sorry to use my own example, but I have co-authored 20 articles in GJ, two of which have been cited more than 100 times, for a total of 737 citations, which is a pretty good number. I hope you will use GJ as a platform to disseminate your original research to the world.
   　We should also promote discussions with the Geochemical Society in USA regarding the Goldschmidt Conference, and if the situations are appropriate for it to be held in Japan, we should work positively to hold the conference in Japan. There has been a lot of discussion on this issue, but if the conference is held in Japan, we would like to reduce the burden on the LOC by making the conference focus on science discussions. We would also like to encourage our members to actively commit (e.g. by proposing sessions) to the Goldschmidt Conference every year, as an appropriate initiative as the host country. Furthermore, I think it is important to promote joint sessions at the annual meeting with overseas MOU-concluding societies, which have been suspended due to the COVID-19 disaster.
   　We hope that these efforts will shorten the distance with the world and contribute to the dissemination of research by our members on a global level.


4. In addition to 1-3, we believe that the following initiatives are necessary to build and strengthen the foundations of our society, and we will work with the secretaries and directors in charge to address these issues.
   (i) Establishing a method of running the annual meeting in the post-corona.
   (ii) Reform of the Japanese journal Geochemistry (Chikyukagaku) in response to the decline in the number of papers submitted
   (iii) Revamping the Society's website (so that work is done by the right people and not overly burdensome)
   (iv) Improving financial health (revision of the rules for supporting members and increase in supporting members, increase in income from the annual meeting, revamping of the website, increase in membership)
   (v) Preparation of the first edition of the Society's White Paper as a summary of the Society's vision for the future of the Geochemical Society and efforts to achieve it.
   　In carrying out these activities, the activities of the Society's committees are extremely important, and will place a certain burden on everyone involved, but the personal connections formed through such activities will be an asset to each of us, and these opportunities will also be a good chance to learn about the role and potential of the Society in the academic world and to gain a broader perspective. These opportunities are also a good chance to learn about the role and potential of societies in academia and to gain a broader perspective. We would like to invite those members who are interested in these activities to join the various committees (future planning, international relations, public relations, etc.) and cooperate with their management. On the other hand, we would like to increase efficiency as much as possible in order to reduce the burden, and we are already using Slack system to manage both meetings in order to achieve daily communication within the Executive Committee and Board of Directors and to reduce meeting times.
   
   　Looking back at the world situation, Japan in the world, and the current situation in Japan's academic fields and higher education, there is a mountain of extremely important and serious problems at home and abroad, such as the intensification of war and conflict and refugee problems, climate change, energy, resource, environmental and food problems, the decline in Japan's economic and research power, the declining birth rate and labor shortage, which will become even more severe in the future. We need to respond to these problems with high ideals and persistence, without becoming poor or dull. This may sound a bit grandiose, but the last war was largely caused by Japan's isolation due to its lack of resources and its block economy. I hope that the promotion of science and technology and international exchange will contribute not only to practical benefits, but also to maintaining a rational world and Japan and keeping peace, and for this reason, we must continue to build an academia that we can be proud of. Geochemistry has many important contents for the 21st century, both in the creation of "dreams" such as the HAYABUSA project and in issues related to "safety and security" such as climate, resources, environment and disaster problems. And in both of these two fields, the interest of geochemistry in connecting the properties of elements (micro) and material cycles (macro) is always at the core.
   　Although I have written a breathless piece, let us first of all enjoy this kind of geochemical research ourselves, and by actively disseminating the results, let us persistently promote the development of our academia and the nurturing of the next generation. No matter how high the mountain, if we take one step at a time, we will reach the top. Let us steadily, but enjoyably, climb up to our respective summits. In the process, I hope that our society will become a place for mutual cooperation and friendly competition, and that it will function effectively in dealing with various issues. We look forward to working with all of you.